cloning beers

[HH60gunner]

Just curious why so many people seem to like to "clone" other beers. I see the "how do I clone this" all the time. I'm not knocking anyone I just don't understand the appeal. I guess to each his own though. Whenever I brew I like to just make stuff up so I get that "I man have made beer" feeling. Knowing I had just created something that's mine. I guess in a way though in doing a style of beer it's somewhat loosely cloning what others have done in the past and deemed a style. I'm just bored and drunk and trying to start conversation though. So why is it guys, that you like to clone your favorite beers?

 

[Zamial]

There are a few reasons that immediately "pop" at me...like:

-If I know I have an EXACT clone, I can go to the store, by a 6er and have a side by side so I can improve my process. BTW hats off to those that "nail" an exact clone!

The other for me is, I like to base my recipes from beers that I have tried. Why blow a months worth of time and an ingredient bill on a gamble? on the flip side why not?

IMO I think that repeatability of a great beer is worth at least 2 "snowflake" beers that no one can reproduce intentionally...

 

[ChshreCat]

One, there's the challenge of trying to clone the beer. That doesn't quite explain the people just asking for a clone recipe, but for those of us who set out to do it ourselves, that's often the motivation. That and...

Two... I can pay a premium price for some popular beer at the sore, or I can clone it and brew up FIVE GALLONS for a fraction of the price.

 

[tekknoschtev]

I think for me, the desire to clone an existing beer is to enjoy the beer, but in a different way. I haven't gotten to the point where I deviate from recipes much, if at all, yet, but eventually I will and it will be nice to have a baseline to know how the changes affect the final product.

That said, the SMaSH method seems more fitting for doing that on a purely knowledge gaining basis for certain types of beer. Also, I don't see myself brewing two nearly identical recipes side by side to compare, so I'm not sure if I could personally even draw any conclusions from my findings.

So, in closing, I look to clone recipes because it gives me somewhere to start.

 

[heywolfie1015]

Sometimes you can only get limited quantities of a beer where you live. Sometimes, you can't get a beer you loved at all where you live. Still other times, it's just the desire to try to make something yourself that you really like. Sort of like trying to recreate a recipe at home that you had at a restaurant. Sure, you could always go back to the restaurant, but making it yourself and proving you can do it gives a sense of accomplishment. Finally, some beers are very expensive. (Think some Belgian style ales.) if you can clone that for a fourh of the cost, why not?

Lots of reasons to do it, all unique to the individual.

 

[logan3825]

Most of the beers I like are seasonal or are not readily available in my area. Hennepin, Ommegang, Oberon Ale and Dancing Man wheat. In the case of Hennepin and Ommegang besides being hard to find, it is really really expensive. Something like $9 for a four pack.($108 for 2 cases!!!) If I can make something even close...

 

[dilbone]

same reason some bands are cover bands...it's fun to play popular music that you know yourself other people like and enjoy...

It's harder to learn a cover and play it note for note than it is to just make up your own material... but making your own material really good is also quite a challenge...

One isn't better than another, just very different.

 

[TheMan]

To me, if I can clone a beer then I've got a solid technique. When I just create a recipe then I have no frame of reference to gauge if I did a good job or not. Other than the obvious, tastes good or not.

 

[RukusDM]

Actually, making clones isn't a bad thing. Many of us newbies (myself included) actually learn a great deal by making clones.

We know what the original tastes like. We then take a recipe and create the extract clone. When its done, we compare as mentioned earlier.

If its close, then we get a idea of what it takes to make that taste. More times than not, its not real close, but vary similar. Then many times the tweaking begins to try and make it closer. This is where the real learning happens.

We add grains and malts and different hops and see the results. For me, its a great place to start. I'll probably go all grain or partials eventually, but this gives me some basic understanding before moving on to the next step.

 

[Dogphish]

when you use someones home recipe, and you're not an expert brewer, you don't know what the beer is going to taste like.

i have tried over 100 different beers from around the world. some of them were unlike any other, and tasted fantastic. others tasted bad, in my opinion, and i never want to taste them again.

therefore, before i made my first barley wine, i would try to get a Victory or Dogfish clone in order to make sure that i don't invest $50 and a couple months of time making a Young's or Sierra Nevada barley wine (which i don't care for).

 

[tnvol]

Because its fun to try to recreate your favorite beers.

 

[Yooper]

Because its fun to try to recreate your favorite beers.

Yeah, that. AND.......I'm drinking a Surly Furious right now. It's only available in the Minneapolis area, so I rarely get it. I love it- it's a great IPA. So, I cloned it. BUT, now that I'm drinking it again, I think there is a floral aroma that I don't quite like as much as my original. I think I'd like more citrusy.

So, a "clone" maybe can be an homage to a beer style or a certain beer you like, without having some of the characteristics you don't like. I've never been one to willy-nilly throw stuff into beer- I'm a bit of a style nazi. So if I know what I want, what characteristics I want to bring out, the water I want to use, etc, I can come pretty close to any beer I want to make. I still start with certain style guidelines.

My goal isn't always to make something that tastes just like a certain beer, after I do it the first time. After I nail it, I change it into something better.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I make clones on occasion. I clone beers I really enjoy enough to drink 5 gallons of it. That's pretty rare, I like drinking lots of different stuff.

 

[Bobcatbrewing42]

I've made a few clone recipes that get good ratings or have won local competitions and have never tried the beer that was cloned. I've made a Founder's Red Rye and a Sweetwater 420 that were both winners but I still have never tasted either of them. I live in Utah, where the State keeps a pretty tight rein on alcohol so our selections are not as good as in other places.